The human blood-forming (hematopoietic) system is comprised of a variety of white blood cells (including neutrophils, macrophages, basophils, mast cells, ecosinophils, T and B cells), red blood cells (erythrocytes) and clot-forming cells imegakaryocytes, platelets).
It is believed that small amounts of certain hematopoietic growth factors account for the differentiation of a small number of “stem cells” into a variety of blood cell progenitors for the tremendous proliferation of those cells, and for the ultimate differentiation of mature blood cells from those lines. The hematopoietic regenerative system functions well under normal conditions. However, when stressed by chemotherapy, radiation, or natural myelodysplastic disorders, a resulting period during which patients are seriously leukopenic, anemic, or thrombocytopenic occurs. The development and the use of hematopoietic growth factors accelerates bone marrow regeneration during this dangerous phase.
In certain viral induced disorders, such as acquired autoimmune deficiency (AIDS) blood elements such as T cells may be specifically destroyed. Augmentation of T cell production may be therapeutic in such cases.
Because the hematopoietic growth factors are present in extremely small amounts, the detection and identification of these factors has relied upon an array of assays which as yet only distinguish among the different factors on the basis of stimulative effects on cultured cells under artificial conditions.
The application of recombinant genetic techniques has clarified the understanding of the biological activities of individual growth factors. For example, the amino acid and DNA sequences for human erythropoietin (EPO), which stimulates the production of erythrocytes, have been obtained. (See, Lin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,008, hereby incorporated by reference). Recombinant methods have also been applied to the isolation of cDNA for a human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, G-CSF (See, Souza, U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,643, hereby incorporated by reference), and human granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) [Lee, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 82, 4360-4364 (1985); Wong, et al., Science, 228, 810-814 (1985)], murine G- and GM-CSF [Yokota, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 81, 1070 (1984); Fung, et al., Nature, 307, 233 (1984); Gough, et al., Nature, 309, 763 (1984)], and human macrophage colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1) [Kawasaki, et al., Science, 230, 291 (1985)].
The High Proliferative Potential Colony Forming Cell (HPP-CFC) assay system tests for the action of factors on early hematopoietic progenitors [Zont, J. Exp. Med., 159, 679-690 (1984)]. A number of reports exist in the literature for factors which are active in the HPP-CFC assay. The sources of these factors are indicated in Table 1. The most well characterized factors are discussed below.
An activity in human spleen conditioned medium has been termed synergistic factor (SF). Several human tissues and human and mouse cell lines produce an SF, referred to as SF-1, which synergizes with CSF-1 to stimulate the earliest HPP-CFC. SF-1 has been reported in media conditioned by human spleen cells, human placental cells, 5637 cells (a bladder carcinoma cell line), and EMT-6 cells (a mouse mammary carcinoma cell line). The identity of SF-1 has yet to be determined. Initial reports demonstrate overlapping activities of interleukin-1 with SF-1 from cell line 5637 [Zsebo et al., Blood, 71, 962-968 (1988)]. However, additional reports have demonstrated that the combination of interleukin-1 (IL-1) plus CSF-1 cannot stimulate the same colony formation as can be obtained with CSF-1 plus partially purified preparations of 5637 conditioned media [McNiece, Blood, 73, 919 (1989)].
The synergistic factor present in pregnant mouse uterus extract is CSF-1. WEHI-3 cells (murine myelomonocytic leukemia cell line) produce a synergistic factor which appears to be identical to IL-3. Both CSF-1 and IL-3 stimulate hematopoietic progenitors which are more mature than the target of SF-1.
Another class of synergistic factor has been shown to be present in conditioned media from TC-1 cells (bone marrow-derived stromal cells). This cell line produces a factor which stimulates both early myeloid and lymphoid cell types. It has been termed hemolymphopoietic growth factor 1 (HLGF-1). It has an apparent molecular weight of 120,000 [McNiece et al., Exp. Hematol., 16, 383 (1988)].
Of the known interleukins and CSFs, IL-1, IL-3, and CSF-1 have been identified as possessing activity in the HPP-CFC assay. The other sources of synergistic activity mentioned in Table 1 have not been structurally identified. Based on the polypeptide sequence and biological activity profile, the present invention relates to a molecule which is distinct from IL-1, IL-3, CSF-1 and SF-1.
TABLE 1Preparations Containing Factors Activein the HPP-CFC AssaySource1ReferenceHuman Spleen CM[Kriegler, Blood, 60, 503(1982)]Mouse Spleen CM[Bradley, Exp. Hematol. TodayBaum, ed., 285 (1980)]Rat Spleen CM[Bradley, supra, (1980)]Mouse lung CM[Bradley, supra, (1980)]Human Placental CM[Kriegler, supra (1982)]Pregnant Mouse Uterus[Bradley, supra (1980)]GTC-C CM[Bradley, supra (1980)]RH3 CM[Bradley, supra (1980)]PHA PBL[Bradley, supra (1980)]WEHI-3B CM[McNiece, Cell Biol. Int. Rep., 6, 243(1982)]EMT-6 CM[McNiece, Exp. Hematol., 15, 854 (1987)]L-Cell CM[Kriegler, Exp. Hematol., 12, 844 (1984)]5637 CM[Stanley, Cell, 45, 667 (1986)]TC-1 CM[Song, Blood, 66, 273 (1985)]1CM = Conditioned media. 
When administered parenterally proteins are often cleared rapidly from the circulation and may therefore elicit relatively short-lived pharmacological activity. Consequently, frequent injections of relatively large doses of bioactive proteins may be required to sustain therapeutic efficacy. Proteins modified by the covalent attachment of water-soluble polymers such as polyethylene glycol, copolymers of polyethylene glycol and polypropylene glycol, carboxymethyl cellulose, dextran, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone or polyproline are known to exhibit substantially longer half-lives in blood following intravenous injection than do the corresponding unmodified proteins [Abuchowski et al., In: “Enzymes as Drugs”, Holcenberg et al., eds. Wiley-Interscience, New York, N.Y., 367-383 (1981), Newmark et al., J. Appl. Biochem. 4:185-189 (1982), and Katre et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 84, 1487-1491 (1987)]. Such modifications may also increase the protein's solubility in aqueous solution, eliminate aggregation, enhance the physical and chemical stability of the protein, and greatly reduce the immunogenicity and antigenicity of the protein. As a result, the desired in vivo biological activity may be achieved by the administration of such polymer-protein adducts less frequently or in lower doses than with the unmodified protein.
Attachment of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to proteins is particularly useful because PEG has very low toxicity in mammals [Carpenter et al., Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol., 18, 35-40 (1971)]. For example, a PEG adduct of adenosine deaminase was approved in the United States for use in humans for the treatment of severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome. A second advantage afforded by the conjugation of PEG is that of effectively reducing the immunogenicity and antigenicity of heterologous proteins. For example, a PEG adduct of a human protein might be useful for the treatment of disease in other mammalian species without the risk of triggering a severe immune response.
Polymers such as PEG may be conveniently attached to one or more reactive amino acid residues in a protein such as the alpha-amino group of the amino-terminal amino acid, the epsilon amino groups of lysine side chains, the sulfhydryl groups of cysteine side chains, the carboxyl groups of aspartyl and glutamyl side chains, the alpha-carboxyl group of the carboxyl-terminal amino acid, tyrosine side chains, or to activated derivatives of glycosyl chains attached to certain asparagine, serine or threonine residues.
Numerous activated forms of PEG suitable for direct reaction with proteins have been described. Useful PEG reagents for reaction with protein amino groups include active esters of carboxylic acid or carbonate derivatives, particularly those in which the leaving groups are N-hydroxysuccinimide, p-nitrophenol, imidazole or 1-hydroxy-2-nitrobenzene-4-sulfonate. PEG derivatives containing maleimido or haloacetyl groups are useful reagents for the modification of protein free sulfhydryl groups. Likewise, PEG reagents containing amino, hydrazine or hydrazide groups are useful for reaction with aldehydes generated by periodate oxidation of carbohydrate groups in proteins.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a factor causing growth of early hematopoietic progenitor cells.